PRAGUE: The Czech president on Wednesday named populist billionaire Andrej Babis the country's prime minister for the second time in six months, hoping that he will be able to swing a parliamentary majority after failing to do so in January.
"I hope that this time your government wins the confidence of parliament," President Milos Zeman, a former communist known for his strong pro-Russian and pro-Chinese views, said at a ceremony in Prague.
Babis, whose ANO movement won 78 seats in the 200-member parliament campaigning on an anti-corruption ticket in October election, is planning to form a minority government with the 15-seat leftwing Social Democrats (CSSD).
But to secure a parliamentary majority, Babis -- a former communist -- intends to rely on backing from the 15-seat KSCM Communist Party.
This would give the communists a role in government, albeit an informal one, for the first time since the collapse of the communist regime in the Velvet Revolution in former Czechoslovakia in 1989.
The coalition deal hinges on a party referendum in the CSSD, whose results will be announced on June 15, and on concessions demanded by the anti-NATO Communists, including no increases in armed forces deployed on missions abroad.
Zeman said Wednesday that "the government could be appointed towards the end of June and in this case, the vote of confidence could take place during the first or second week of July".
Babis took the October election by storm but he has so far failed to form a coalition, with potential partners shunning him over criminal charges he faces for alleged EU subsidy fraud, something he has flatly denied.
Babis's first attempt at forming a cabinet ended in January when his minority government of ANO members and unaffiliated experts failed to garner enough support in parliament.
His minority cabinet was allowed to govern as a caretaker administration, with the pro-Russian Zeman promising to give Babis a second chance.
Police have charged Babis -- a food, chemicals and media tycoon and the second wealthiest Czech -- with alleged EU subsidy fraud to the tune of two million euros ($2.4 million).
The Slovak-born entrepreneur has also been dogged by allegations he served as a Communist secret police agent before 1989. Babis has denied any wrongdoing.
His likely deal with the Communists led thousands of protesters into the streets of the EU and NATO member of 10.6 million people on Tuesday.
"Zeman and Babis, this country isn't yours!", "Stop the communist criminal ideology!", "No more communism!", read posters touted by protesters in Prague.
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